Dick Grayson searched around the large cafeteria looking for his friend Barbara Gordon. He was dying to ask why the principal had pulled her into his office. Hopefully, they hadn't accused her father of anything like they did to Dick.

He finally spotted her after a few minutes of searching," Hey, Babs!" He called her to their usual seats.

She looked at Dick; guilt pouring off of her," H-hey."

Dick chose to ignore it,"Why'd you get called into the office?"

"Oh that...Um... They wanted to give me some papers for some elective field trip." Dick nodded, but could see straight through her act. He had dealt with tons of lying criminals before and he definitely knew a liar when he saw one. So, there was only one thing Dick could do-- pry the truth out of her.

"Hey... Barb. You know I trust you right?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Well, there was this friend I used to hang out with all the time, but he lied to me about something. Something really big, so after he finally told me the truth I realized we couldn't be friends anymore. I just wanted to know that you will always tell me the truth."

"Uh... Uh..." She stuttered.

"I just want us to be truthful and to never lie to one another," Dick forced back a smirk.

"Goddamnit, Dick, I need to tell you something..." Barbara gave in.

"What is it?"

"I lied to you. I wasn't called into the office because of a field trip, but because the principal wanted to talk to me about the chance of Bruce abusing you." She spilled," He wanted me to snitch on Bruce."

"And why would you hide that from me, Barb?" He froze," God no... What did you tell them?"

"I said something that might have made their theory grow. I didn't mean to, but I just want you to be safe, Dick. I didn't want you getting hurt."

"Barbara! What did you say?!" A few students turned towards the two teens.

"I told them that one day Bruce was really mad at one of his employees...and the next day of school you came with...cuts and scratches that you didn't have the day before." She said her eyes tearing slightly. Dick stared at her with disbelief. He didn't know what to say or do. He slowly began to reach for his crutches in effort to stand up.
He had come to school with cuts, but Bruce hadn't been the cause of that. Usually when Bruce got mad he went out on patrol, and Dick always chose to go with him. They had ran into The Penguin and Dick had gotten a little hurt, but Bruce had nothing to do with that. He would never harm Dick.

Dick flinched as he felt Barbaras hand land on his shoulder," Dick, I was only trying to protect you," Dick sighed knowing that he would have to explain this all to Bruce. He then got a crazy idea. He stared at Barbara and then made a run for it. He ran as fast as he could- cast and all. Fortunately, Barbara hadn't expected that, so he got a large head start.

"Dick!" He heard his name being yelled but he ignored the calls.

"Come on, I'm sorry!"

He quickly reached for his phone which was currently in his left pocket and dialed Alfred's number.

"Dick, where are you?!"

Alfred's comforting voice was then heard through the phone,"Hello, Master Dick? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"It's complicated, but can you pick me up in front of the school?" Dick began searching for a spot to hide in.

"I will be there in a few minutes?" Alfred said unsure before hanging up.

"Dick! Where are you?" Dick had finally found a small trash can where he could hide behind. His crutches stood out, but not by a lot.

"Dick, I'm sorry!" Dick sighed. He felt bad, but at the same time wanted her to learn her lesson. How could she ever accuse Bruce of such a crime?

"Ms. Gordon what are you doing out here?" A teacher said heading towards Barbara. Dick shrunk behind the trash can.

"Oh, well, I needed some fresh air. I felt dizzy." She lied. Dick was actually shocked that she didn't rat him out. She was looking for Dick, but she probably didn't want to do something to upset him even more.

"Well, unless you asked permission from a teacher then you better get inside before I send you to the principals office." The teacher said leading Barbara inside. Then as if on cue, Alfred's car pulled up. Dick quickly jumped inside before he could be seen by a teacher.

"So, Master Dick, you mind explaining why you had me pick you up early, and why you were hiding behind that trash can?" Alfred asked curiously as they drove away from the large school n

"I needed to get out of there." Dick said with his head lowered.

"And why is that?" Alfred asked.

"... The school thinks Bruce is abusing me."

"Oh... I'm sure it's just rumors." Alfred replied.

"It's not just the staff, Barbara believes it too."

"Well, Master Bruce is coming home early today, so you can tell him this theory." Alfred said pulling into the driveway.

"I'm not sure I can tell him... What if he makes me stop being Robin? I don't want to stop be Robin, but I also don't want people to think Bruce is abusing me."

"It's still best that Bruce knows so he can handle it before it gets out of hand." Alfred responded.

"You're right. I just hope this dies down soon."

"Me too," Alfred agreed as Wayne Manor pulled into view," Me too..."